Retro-Active: That Vinyl Magic

My experiences with a forgotten format

Retroactivity:the act of purposefully seeking out popular objects or trends of past generations.

Knowing and recognising all of the wonders of the past is an arduous and almost impossible task. Being born in the late 80s it is safe to say that I missed out on some great things. It could have been the fact that I simply hadn't been born yet or that I was too young to understand the complexity and deeper intricacies of something. The fact remains that some things simply are too good to be missed, but now I'm older and (hopefully) more mature, so what's stopping me (and any of us for that matter) to seek out those marvels of a lost age?

I've always considered myself a connoisseur of music. The better half of my hard-disk space is cluttered with a variety of different musical styles, be they classic, hip-hop, rock or funk. Of course the fact that I am a musician myself has only fuelled this desire to seek out the obscure and the awesome. Yet I've never indulged myself into creating a tangible collection. CDs just didn't appeal to me; crappy quality and durability always stopped me from buying them. To this day the only CD that I own is the first Gorillaz album (given to me by my sis for my thirteenth birthday).

Thanks sis!

That all changed one faithful night when my parents decided it was time to bust out the old record player. Now I'm not that young that I don't even recognise the concept of vinyl, but back then it was the first time I ever laid hands on an actual vinyl player. I wasn't immediately enamoured by the archaic device: questions like "what if you want to play the THIRD track on the album?" and "why are there so many pops and hisses in the sound?" went through my mind. Eventually I decided that my trusty MP3-player was still better than this old stuff.

I believe my first response was: "what the hell is that thing?"

I couldn't help but remain slightly curious about this old format though, and eventually my parents decided to persuade me by introducing me to their old record collection, which was pretty damn huge. After some digging around I found some albums perhaps worthy of my interest. And so a night of jaw-dropping awesomeness began.

This is about 1/5 of their collection

It has been almost two years since that faithful first venture into vinyl, and I've grown a sizeable collection of my own. I still don't really understand the appeal of vinyl. I'm told the quality is better but I have difficulty telling the difference, but for some reason I can't stop collecting the damn things. I love talking about them and I definitely love collecting them, even though most people think it's ridiculous for a guy my age to spend so much time collecting these old things. But for me analogue is better than digital in this case, and so the second episode of Retro-active is about That Vinyl Magic.

My altar of awesome, with my favourite records in the bottom-left corner.

The vinyl record rose to dominance around the 1920s, and stayed there until the growing market for digital audio finally took over around the 1980s. It's main contrast when compared to CDs is the fact that vinyl produces an analogue sound, considered by some to be of superior quality. Vinyl moved away from the mainstream in the 1980s, but seems to be regaining popularity in the 2000s. A fact that I can wholeheartedly support.

Ironically the first vinyl album I got my hands on was from the same artist as my first CD: the Gorillaz. As my love for vinyl started to grow I realised I needed to get started with some sort of collection. As awesome as Demon Days is, one album does not a collection make. So I set off on a venture. First mission? Stealing my favourite albums from my parents. To this day they're still rather pissed off about that little ordeal, but who cares? I finally had a couple of records I could call "my own".

They're still not happy about me taking this one

One of the greatest albums of all time

Second mission? It was time to get my hands on my own record player and stereo set. Surprisingly enough this all went rather easy. My father still had an old stereo set I could borrow and a friend of mine (who's a DJ) had a record player left I could have. Now I just needed to buy some more records.

My record player

That's when I started realising vinyl is more alive than I originally thought. There are over 5 thriving vinyl shops in Utrecht. My favourites? De Plato on De Voorstraat en de Platenboef on De Oudegracht. If you're ever in the neighbourhood, go check 'em out. You won't be sorry. My favourite vinyl go-to place, however, is the bi-annual Verzamelaarsbeurs in the Jaarbeurs. This place is huge (unfortunately, I have no pictures that illustrate how huge). There are over three floors filled with anything a Retrojunkie would desire, and at least half of it is dedicated to the rarest, coolest and (thank god) affordable vinyl.

Retrojunkie's paradise

Over the years I've collected a variety of different albums. Some from shops, some were given to me by old grannies living in the street. I'm currently starting a vinyl fanclub here in the little town I grow up in and I've certainly found a lot of people who share my opinion. For one thing, it's nice to finally own a real collection of music instead of just having it on your computer. There's just a certain inexplicable flair to vinyl that's hard to deny. As I started collecting I noticed how alive the community still is. People of all ages are into collecting the rarest albums and coming together and talking about them. Nothing sets the mood better than grabbing a couple of records and playing 'em with friends. Even my friends have started collecting vinyl because of my enthusiasm (granted, some of them had already started). It does indeed seem like the popularity of vinyl is rising these days. I was too young to experience its original heyday but I'll be damned to let it pass by me again. In true retro-activity I'd say: screw CDs, screw MP3. Make mine vinyl!

As a concluding statement, allow me to show you my favourite albums and some of the stories that came along with them:

These are the only two singles I have, and need for that matter. Stolen from my parents.

The Toto and Village People albums were given to me by my best friend and his girlfriend. While hesitant at first, Toto is now one of my favourites. I've yet to listen to the Village People though...

I was so proud when I found Songs for the Deaf by QOTSA. Upon second inspection though I found out this album was called Songs for the Dead, a rough demo version of the original. Surprisingly some of the songs on this one are actually better than the original.

I wanted Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland so badly I almost spent 100 euros for a copy. Luckily I hesitated and found the exact same album for sale at the Sziget festival, for 2 euros.

The All Time Greatest Hits of the Beach Boys was the only album my mom wanted me to steal. God she hates the Beach Boys. I love 'em. Cash V is the most depressing album you'll ever hear, but it's really good.

Well, that was my second experience with retro-activity. Hope you liked it and next up in the search for gems forgotten is the merc with a mouth, back before he became so ridiculously popular (he has like, three, no, four monthly books these days?), the assassin with elan, Deadpool.

-WinegumZero

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I have gotten super into vinyl over the last couple years. I've had my eye on my parents' record collection since I was very small, I'd always see it in our basement with our old record player, which didn't have a needle, but it nevertheless fascinated me. I always wanted to listen to that copy of The Chipmunks Sing The Beatles, in which, you guessed it, Alvin and The Chipmunks sing Beatles tunes.

I got my own record player a couple years ago, a Crosley thing. It serves it's purpose, and I have started building my own collection too. My first record I bought was the Grease soundtrack, but I've pilfered quite a few from my parents, such as The Beatles' Let it Be.

I still have yet to listen to that Chipmunks Sing The Beatles album that always fascinated me as a kid, but I still hold a love for vinyl.

I love vinyl too! I am also a collector and have taken some of my father's old albums but he told me I could. I've got mostly Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac, but there are some other ones too. And I also have most of my original collection of kids' records and my kiddie record player, as you can read about in my RetroJunk article "Spin Me Round Like a Record." ^_^

I never had a Vinyl collection, the only vinyls I owned were the ones that came with kids books, you know, the ones that 'turn the page when you hear this sound', like the Star Wars ones had R2D2 beep and wiz to turn the page. Tapes replaced vinyl for these books early on in my life, but I liked how the record fit in the book, something a tape would never do. I was actually saddened when they never made smaller books for kids that held CDs, I guess CDs aren't as kid friendly as vinyl.

Anyway now-a-days storage space is cheap so I don't think music sold in physical form will ever come back like days of yore, like before 2001, the introduction to iTunes. Should Napster go before that? I don't think Napster affected physical music sales at all, I think it was all just hype, but iTunes definitely did.

My parents also got me into records. They very kindly let me have their collection so I didn't have to go about sneakily stealing their records. Later on I got their premission to get rid of titles I wasn't interested in to make more room for my own tastes. My dad had a complete Jefferson Airplane collection that included some rare mono pressings, the problem was most of those records were so worn out, scratched and beatup they became worthless and hard to enjoy. The way a record sounds will vary greatly depending on the quality of the pressing and the condition of the vinyl. I have a very good condition Japanese pressing of the Who's Odds and Sods and it sounds better than nearly every cd I've heard. I used to sometimes get cds but I got turned off them cause I find they scratch easier than records. I find cd skipping more annoying than record skipping, at least sometimes you can correct a skipping record. Nowadays I like my mp3 player for portable use and record player for home listening. I've hung on to my cd player, but I mostly use it to listen to cd-r compilations I make. I don't mind spending a dollar or two on a cd-r but I've gotten tired of putting down $20 for a cd when I could buy several records or mp3s for the same price.

I collect vinyls too i have a few colloured (blue, orange, clear) one picture, 13 singles, 4 12" singles and the others are standard vinyls every thing from awsome AC/DC and Chuck Berry to Shit like Vanila Ice (to the Extream) and i am hunting for the suggar hill gang Rapper's Delight(Its on the top on my next to get list)

Seems like the younger generation thinks vinyl is nifty, but I grew up listening to it, and I prefer the much cleaner sound of CDs (providing they are mastered correctly...but that's a whole different issue).

I will admit, having grown up listening to vinyl that it was a good cheap way to listen to music (I still remember buying Queen's "A Night at the Opera" for $0.05 (yes, a nickel), which is awesome for a great album). And, it's fun to watch the thing spin around (something lost on CDs and MP3s).

But, for me, I'd rather hear the music the way the artist intended, and CD is much closer to that representation than albums.

I love this article and I love vinyl. I got into collecting vinyl about the same time I got into KISS about two years ago. Before I even had a turn table, I randomly found myself browsing through vinyl records at my local Half-Price Books and I found the album, Destroyer and it was too cool to pass up. And for $5 too! In the next year I picked up Pink Floyd's The Wall (one of my favorite albums of all time) and two more KISS albums, Rock and Roll Over and Dynasty.

Then, that summer my mom bought me a Crosley 5 in 1 stereo with a turntable and I've been spinning vinyl like mad ever since. Yes, I still listen to MP3's and CD's on a daily basis but there's certainly something magical about pulling out your favorite Pink Floyd, Kiss, or Beatles album and playing it in its original format with all the charm of lo-fi pops and hisses. Audiophiles swear by the medium of vinyl for its depth and warmth. They don't lie.

I inherited a record player from a family friend about 10 years ago and was on a vinyl kick for a while. I stole from my parents collection that I had been eyeballing for years, but the only album I really dug was "Stormbringer" by Deep Purple and a couple Monkees records. But frankly, vinyl just isn't convenient, the only thing they're good for is artistic appreciation of the sleeve art.